Hi everyone! We got a whole bunch of snow last night, and almost no wind....here's what we woke up to this morning:
Pile o' Snow
And the view along the street down the hill behind us...
The ornamental plum tree (still haven't ID'd it....) in the corner of the back yard...
The west side of our house, and one rather disconcerted cat (Sophie)....
The great "legless" cat!...
An ornamental tree across the street.....
The SE corner of our house (guest bedroom...;-)
This message was edited Dec 11, 2004 11:50 AM
And finally, one of our hanging baskets, moments before it was retired for the season...lol
Oh My Gosh, Shannon! Those photos look just like mine did on Tuesday!! I hope you appreciated my sharing!! LOL
I laughed when I saw your cat, (Sophie, isn't it?) up to her belly in the snow. That would be the day I could get my two wussy felines outside the door, let alone in the snow this time of the year!
We have been getting rain for the last couple days. Rained all night last night, so a lot of the snow from my Tuesday's photos are gone. Temperatures are supposed to reach 7 today.
Today is "put up the Christmas Tree" day. It always makes me so excited. I'll post some photos when I'm done!
Absolutely Donna, your photos got me in the mood for a nice big snowfall! ...in fact I was envious! :-) Not of the difficult parts of course....I just wanted the pretty parts....lol
Yep, that's Sophie...the most intrepid of the three. Franklin and Scruffy go out too, but don't usually stray too far - unless Scruffy's gotten it into his head to go foraging for food from the neighbours. We actually don't let them out much, unless the weather's so bad I know they won't go very far :-) Scruffy's sprawled across my lap at the moment....snow? what snow?
Looking forward to your tree pics!
Wow! Do you see otters often? No wonder the dogs were going nuts.
I see them in the ocean but not 6 of them on the bank. I haven't seen that before. When my conservatory was being built in January a few years back, we had a mink come up the bank and try to get into the conservatory. There are hundreds of seals around all the time and whales off and on.
A MINK?????????????????????
I want to go to Brugcrazy's house! She has a beach and ocean view...and otters!!!
....and minks and whales!
This message was edited Dec 11, 2004 9:40 AM
Me too, me too!
Yes Elaine, it was a mink. I was quite surprised but one of the guys working on the conservatory saw it too and said, Yes, that's a mink.
The otters this morning were spooky because the sun was just coming up and they were scurrying around the waters edge like huge shadows. Another friend said they are really nasty. Thank goodness they didn't come up the bank. Oscar was really choked at them and he doesn't bark much. Molly ( she's the black shepherd x wolf) barks incessantly at all creatures especially the eagles that live in the tree at the end of the deck. Yes, I have eagles living here year round too.
Isn't that surprising to hear that Otters are nasty creatures. All you ever hear and see in books and magazines is how sweet they are lying on their backs with a coy little look in their eyes, eating off their bellies. Who knew!
I do, however, remember an encounter with a Mink in the middle of an Alberta lake. They are a bit nasty themselves. It was growling and hissing at us as we were fishing in our boat. Again, who knew! Wild is Wild, I guess.
Brugcrazy where oh where are your digital pictures?????
+11 here right now....we are being teased...... weather is much nicer than we had all summer and all the stores have their doors open wide.
Thank you Alberta for sending the clipper our way! :)
p.s . I also enjoyed a dish of gelato while we walked downtown without jackets. :)
Only in Canada, you say? LOL Glad to hear you are having a winter reprieve, Pam. We are having a lovely day ourselves. Was supposed to only go to 7 and it's 10 already, with bright sunshine. I took my digital on a walk with the dog to take some winter shots of the Columbia, but waddya think...dead batteries! What else?
An Alberta clipper! My mom in MB talks about them but always in terms of bad weather....guess this clipper is the good kind instead :-) The weather in this country never ceases to amaze me.
Here's one more, of the clothesline.
No Snow here, but I do have these today. It's lovely, sunny and warm, with just a bit of wind...
Got him sitting
Linda thank you for sharing your little gem with us. :) I didn't see any here this summer.
Shannon I think the warm weather we received today was being gently moved in by the clipper. Tonight the winds have picked up and I know we will have a temperature drop. Hopefully with just a little snow!. ;)
Well after 10 days of torrential rain, mud slides, flooding etc, we get this today, (sunny and warm,) and maybe again Sunday, then the rains come again. The weather guys call it a 'pineapple express' warmth and wet from Hawaii.
Jeanne does have a lovely spot, the view with the widelife is always changing.
I like seeing photos of snow, and if it was sunny and about -2 I'd be happy in the snow. Just so long as i'm out of the way of every other driver on the roads. I don't think any here knows how to drive in the snow, and it seems even with snow, it's rush, rush rush. I'll just stay in, by the fire, with Cheryl and the dog.
You sound like me, Linda! My kinda winter day.
I am just so envious of your December hummer. The last one here was in September. I have been trying to read up on them so I can recognize them when they come to the feeder. We apparently have 4 that are native to BC;, the Caliope, Anna's, Rufous (really prevalent here in the Kootenays) and the one in your picture, I think, the Black-chined Hummingbird. The description sounds like yours, "Adult Male, Metalic green back, crown, and breast, black gorget with purple throat band, white collar.
This summer I had the thrill of my life with the unexpected visit from a Hummer. I was standing out on my side deck, gazing at the mountains, and beside me was one of my potted rose-pink geraniums, only a foot or so away. I heard and felt this "flurry", and looked and there was this gorgeous little Calliope landing on my geranium, not 12 inches away. It startled me and I let out a little cry. He stopped backed up a couple inches, decided, I guess, that I was just a little dozy, not really a threat, so moved back in to finish his snack. He stayed for a couple minutes, but I was just in seventh heaven, just couldn't believe he'd sit that close to me. I have often watched them from 2-3 feet, but not this close. I think I shook for an hour. I still get goose bumps thinking about it. Anyway, now that I've dribbled on about it, I was going to just add that that was one of the things on my "buy in Victoria" list. A couple more Hummer feeders. I thought about one of those Oasis kind, or something else a little different.
This message was edited Dec 12, 2004 8:17 AM
Those are great pictures Shannon. Makes me hope we get some here. Sorry Jeanne but it would be kind of nice to have some for Christmas. At least by then everything is usually done and you don't have to be out driving in it.
Jeanne, you are so lucky to be able to see otters, seals and whales from your house. I know your yard has lots of the nice tall evergreen trees that the eagles love but I didn't realize you had a nest in one of them. You are truly blessed and it makes me happy knowing you are the kind of person who will protect the trees. There are so many people around who would take a better view or a sunnier yard over the needs of the eagles.
Donna, there are two kinds of otters: sea otters and river otters. The cute ones you are thinking of that float on their backs are the sea otters. You can find river otters on both the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island but you only find sea otters on the west coast. They live in the kelp beds and I'm not sure if they come on shore. River otters are pretty neat too. I've seen them pretty close up when I've been kayaking. They're very playful and I've usually seen them in small groups. I think each family tends to stay together. I don't doubt that both kinds of otters would be nasty if you were to get too close like all wild animals.
Linda, those are great shots of the hummingbird. It must be wonderful to have them around this time of year. What kind is that one? We feed them in the summer but usually only have the Rufous. You're lucky to have four kinds where you are Donna.
I always thought it was an Anna hummingbird, but I was taking others' words for it. I thought it's throat was a brilliant red when the sun was on it, but it doesn't show in the photo.
Linda, gorgeous hummer photos! Thanks for them.
Well, maybe it was an Anna. According to my article, it describes the male: Metallic green back, dark rose-red crown and gorget, grayish breast. So both the Black-chinned Hummingbird and the Anna's (males) have Metallic green backs. Sorry, I didn't notice that yesterday. I was mostly looking at the picture at the time.
Sandy, we in the Kootenays are not the only ones with 4 types of Hummingbirds; you do too. The four I mentioned are native to British Columbia. Thanks for all the info on the otters. I didn't know there were the two kinds, although I am sure I have heard them being called by both names, I just didn't put it together. DUH
This message was edited Dec 12, 2004 8:30 AM
That's a nice hummingbird picture Donna. I know we're supposed to have more kinds other than the Rufous but I've never seen them. Although, sometimes it's hard to tell, they move so fast. Have you seen some of the other ones around here Jeanne?
Lot's of people who live around here don't know that we don't have the sea otters on this side of the island Donna. I would love to see some of those but don't expect I'll be venturing out in the kayak on the west coast too much.